The invention relates to a bearing device for screw conveyor shafts comprising at least one shaft bearing with and one connection shaft guided in the shaft bearing unit for connecting to at least one screw conveyor shaft.
Such bearing/coupling units are used to rotatably support screw shafts in conveyor systems for transporting solids, in particular screw shafts for transporting particulate blasting agents in surface treatment systems. Furthermore, two screw shafts can be connected to each other at such a unit.
Since the screw shafts are stressed unevenly when transporting solid matter and also cover a great distance of 5 to 6 meters between the bearing points, the bearing shoulders of the screw shafts are not aligned with, the axes of the shaft bearings or with a connecting shaft, respectively, which is rotatably supported in the hanging bearing device and to the front of which the screw shafts are connected. During operation, this can result in tilted angles of the axes and to oscillating movements that need to be compensated for inside the shaft bearing unit. For this purpose, spherical roller bearings, in which the connecting shaft is mounted, are provided according to the prior art. In harsh environments with heavy dust development, however, dust quickly enters the spherical roller bearing, so that said bearing wears quickly and needs to be replaced, which in turn results in down times of the conveyor unit. An enclosure of the shaft bearing unit as a dust protection is not possible, since the gap width between a round central opening of a stationery housing and the connecting shaft would change constantly precisely because of said axis misalignments and oscillating movements.